1.4 Visits to prisons, a juvenile prison and a youth detention centre
With regard to the use of constraint measures in Ig Prison, there were no complaints, that is why we
concluded that their use was not excessive. This was also true in case of Murska Sobota Unit of Maribor
Prison, Rogoza Open Unit of Maribor Prison and Koper Prison. However, in Koper Prison the educationalist
explained that there was no proposal to the Court for the initiation of a disciplinary procedure in a case of
physical conflict between two inmates, since the inmate “had no benefits”. The NPM responded that this
is not appropriate and that the Unit should always initiate appropriate procedures in case of disciplinary
breach and above all inform the court of it and propose the initiation of the disciplinary procedure. In
Slovenska Vas Semi-Open Unit of Dob Prison four violations of the House Rules were noticed in 2013.
Consequently the inmates were transferred to the closed unit and in one case a sanction was imposed
to the inmate. He was not to receive any benefits for three months. The Prison Administration explained
that only in two cases of the violations of the House Rules strict sanctions were imposed and in the
other two cases the convicted persons were transferred to a stricter unit due to other justified reasons.
With regard to Novo mesto Unit of Ljubljana Prison the NPM concluded that the Unit did not carry out
the disciplinary procedures against any convicted persons and recommended to always address the
violations which are not considered as a failure to meet the obligations, agreed in the personal plan, within
the disciplinary procedure. The Prison Administration responded that three disciplinary procedures were
completed in the Unit in 2013. Two convicted persons were transferred to other prisons due to physical
conflict and the third procedure was terminated by order on suspicion of prisoner escape. In Closed Unit
of Dob pri Mirni Prison there were 51 accommodated prisoners in accordance with Article 98a and 18 in
accordance with Article 206 of ZIKS-1 on the day of our visit in 2013. On the day of our visit the prison
disciplinary book had 30 entries, although only in three cases a disciplinary procedure was initiated. In
the remaining 27 cases the so called “treatment consultation” took place. We requested from the Prison
Administration additional information on the so called “treatment consultations”, which according to
received information were supposedly carried out in October 2013.
With regard to medical care in Ig Prison the NPM carried out an inspection of the prison infirmary and
concluded that the nurse does not have any separate space and is always present during medical
examinations in the room. The NPM therefore pointed out that doctor-patient confidentiality should be
ensured. The nurse should leave the infirmary (upon patient’s request) during medical examination, unless
her presence is required during examination, because confidentiality needs to be ensured to the convicted
persons during medical examinations. The prisoners can carry birth control pills and insulin and the judicial
police officer can give them analgesic pills. The nurse prepares all other treatments for every convicted
person in advance and distributes the pills, except in the evening and on holidays, when they are distributed
by judicial police officers. The NPM considers this distribution a weakness, as it has already been pointed
out in the past. We considered the fact that the prison had no specific patient room also a weakness that is
why we recommended to the prison and the Prison Administration to consider the possibility of dedicating
a special room to the movement-impaired convicted persons and/or detainees on the prison ground floor
in order to enable them easier access to the outdoors. A medical expert took part in Koper Prison visit and
pointed out that the sofa in the waiting room should be suitable for adults, that the waiting room is fairly
small and that the disease transmission by droplet among people in the waiting room is likely. There are
also no educational posters of contagious diseases, addiction etc. There should be a wheelchair available
in the waiting room and a care bed in the infirmary. In case of an unexpected emergency the patient should
receive full care and the nurse, helping the dentist, cannot act as a substitute for the general medicine
nurse. Randomly selected doctors from Koper Health Care Centre cannot act as a substitute for the doctor
with a permanent employment contract that visits the prison. Due to great complications and problems
treating the HCV and HIV/AIDS-infected prisoners an individual approach is necessary to diagnose and to
possibly improve the patient’s mental and physical state. The opioid replacement therapy only prolongs the
agony of the lost patient, therefore the purpose of the addiction treatment is to change lifestyle, which is
only possible in a narcotics treatment centre. And according to the medical expert depression can lead to
suicide, this is why it is important to listen to the patient, because he is often right.
The Prison Administration replied that the maximum number of convicted persons in the waiting room is
two, which minimizes the threat of disease transmission. The prison will be invited to provide educational
posters in cooperation with the regional health care centre and to display them. The possibility of installing
wheels on the care bed in the infirmary will be explored, although it was pointed out, that in case of
emergency the care bed or the wheelchair can always be transported. With regard to the nurse helping the
dentist and acting as a substitution the Prison Administration replied that there was no such substitution
and that Koper Health Care Centre provides a nurse within the framework of the general practitioner’s team
of employees.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2013
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT
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